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VMWare Fusion Beta

Egomaniac said:
To be honest, I've had more application crashes and restarts on OSX than I have under XP/Windows in the past 3 years. So much for "crash resistant" - and yes, I've had 4 kernel panics since I got this iMac home; that's more than the number of BSODs I've had under XP in 4 years.

Which means -- as everyone is saying -- that there is something wrong with your computer. I have a MacBook, two Intel iMacs, and a Mac Pro in my house, and they do not crash despite heavy daily use. My poor Mac Pro is running three different operating systems right now using Parallels, with nary a complaint. If you are getting unexplained kernel panics on a clean install of Mac OS X, then you have a hardware problem.

Hardware problems can affect any OS -- I've seen Windows systems that get daily BSODs. It's not because "Windows sucks", it's because there was a sub-par memory chip or somesuch in the system. Likewise Mac OS X crashes, when nobody else is experiencing a problem, are not an indication of the stability of the OS but rather of your hardware.
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You're quoting me back to me when all of us (including me) were talking about that other guy that is having hardware problems because his Parallels "sucks." Parallels kicks ass on my C2D 20" iMac - hence the reason I piped up to be the first to say something is wrong with the other guy's machine if he can't get it working right.

On mine, which is stock hardware except for the 2GB of RAM I have in it, Parallels starts up in 4 seconds, boots my XP VM in 9-10, shuts down in 3-4, restarts the same VM in under 5 seconds (have yet to figure that one out, probably because of caching someplace; I don't even see the XP splash screen when it reboots/restarts because it's so fast), suspends in 22-25 seconds, resumes in 30-34, and I have no issues with any hardware at all in my XP VM. I even burn CDs and DVDs from the XP VM over FireWire/USB without hassles (Plextor FireWire/USB external).

So, on a similarly configured piece of hardware, if he's having suspend/resume times that seem to be 4-6x longer than others then, as you said, there is something wrong with the hardware. If none of the rest of us are having said issues, your line of logic would follow and apply to his machine since he's the only one reporting such ridiculously long suspend/resume times among other things.

Parallels works for me. Since I can't post specific benchmark data for Parallels and that other new-on-the-scene virtualization software for Macs <hint, hint> I'll just say this:

I completed the testing I said I was going to do, and Parallels simply lays the smackdown across that other software. And yes I'm well aware that other software is in beta - or pre-beta late alpha as one person put it - and that's fine. But I paid for Parallels, and to use that most famous line about Macs:

It just works.

Oh yeah, it beats that other software even with multi-core CPU support enabled. Go figure.

bb

Parallels sucks but until now its been the only REAL game in town.
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Ah... the clarion call of lamers. Might as well bash Windows since it's so pervasive while you're at it. And it's still no excuse for stealing the software and breaking the faith. Bleh...
 
no matter what I do, I can't get mouse input to work in fusion. keyboard input works great, but as soon as I click in the window, my mouse goes dead within VM. Using a wired mouse, plugged directly into an imac...
 
SiliconAddict said:
Parallels sucks but until now its been the only REAL game in town. Boo hoo I'm not paying for an app that IMHO is half baked to begin with. :rolleyes: At least I'm not outright going in search of a seral number and pirating the thing. Again its a tide me over until VM gets their butt in gear and releases this thing.
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Ahh ok - so if I dont like something then I dont have to pay for it? $80 for an app that, by your own admission, you are using all day every day doesnt sound a lot whether you like the app or not.
 
justflie said:
Does anyone have an idea of what (if anything) this does that Parallels doesn't? Parallels has done a great job and is really great except for the video acceleration. If someone could figure that out and let us play XP games in OS X I would be one happy guy.
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I anticipate Fusion to be better than Parallels in the following area,
Virtualization of more than one CPU
Support for more than one network card
Better USB 1.1 implementation
USB 2.0
ACPI
More robust with multiple VMs
Far better customer support.
 
br0adband said:
To be honest, I've had more application crashes and restarts on OSX than I have under XP/Windows in the past 3 years. So much for "crash resistant"
bb
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Really ? I find that very hard to believe. I have been using a Macbook Pro for a year and I have yet to see what a kernel crash looks like. These types of crashes are regular occurances on all of my Windows machines. And don't get me started on the Virus subject.
 
plarusa said:
Really ? I find that very hard to believe. I have been using a Macbook Pro for a year and I have yet to see what a kernel crash looks like. These types of crashes are regular occurances on all of my Windows machines. And don't get me started on the Virus subject.
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I've had about 6 kernel panics in about a time span of 2 months.
 
YoNeX said:
I've had about 6 kernel panics in about a time span of 2 months.
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This can be caused by a number of things (on any computer; not just on a Mac):

- Bad RAM. More likely if you've added a 3rd party stick yourself.

- Bad power supply.

- Faulty (or noisy/dirty) house wiring. More noticable with a desktop than a laptop since the laptop's transformer will help isolate the computer from the noise.
 
I'm not a "normal PC/Mac user" so in my daily usage I do maybe 100x more than "Joe Blow, PC/Mac owner." I install software, test it, remove it, reinstall it. I beta test software, sometimes alpha software for many companies <hint, hint>. I'm so far removed from your average computer owner it's not even funny.

I put OSX through it's paces on a daily basis (yeah, that rhymes, I know it) and so when something crashes I don't directly attribute it to the operating system itself because I know from experience it can be most anything. When someone says "I got <xxx> problem, what can I do?" the first thing that crosses my mind is a mental checklist I've created over the 30+ years I've been doing this stuff, and it's a really long checklist covering software, hardware, and the most important part of all in the equation: humans.

I don't know what problems other people have, but for me, Windows isn't an issue. I could sit here and talk about it, but since it's a Mac forum that wouldn't be a good idea in many respects. The only time I've had a virus in decades was by using AV software - figure that one out. I don't use AV software presently, I don't use Firefox as most sheeple seem to do these days, I don't have issues with IE like most sheeple seem to do these days either.

I'm not trying to turn this into a you-know-what contest, suffice to say I don't do the casual websurfing/email/watch a movie stuff that most users - and yes that's a broad generalization, but when was the last time the guy walking out of an Apple Store with his son or daughter or whatever was planning to go home and rip DVDs and compile software? Hardly the typical activity of a typical user.

I use operating systems, pushing them to their limits and back, so when something breaks, I don't immediately blow off the software and say "IT SUCKS" like some people around here - and then have the nerve to say "But since it's the only game in town I use this software even though IT SUCKS and I won't pay for it ever so I keep using it illegally even though IT SUCKS" etc.

Just my $.02 and lot of change... but I think some people around here would do themselves a favor by either:

a) paying for it then complaining to the software maker to improve it
b) paying for it so your opinions actually mean something to those of that have and use it because we own it
c) shut up before you dig yourself a hole you'll never climb out of

That's just me, of course... I'm not alone, but I'm not the kind to sit idly by and let someone trounce a good product for no good reason.

bb
 
Graphics Card Access?

Does VMWare for Windows and Linux have direct access to the physical graphics hardware? A friend would use that instead of Parallels or Boot Camp in a heartbeat if it did. He's a gamer.
 
ShiggyMiyamoto said:
Does VMWare for Windows and Linux have direct access to the physical graphics hardware? A friend would use that instead of Parallels or Boot Camp in a heartbeat if it did. He's a gamer.
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The feature currently doesn't seem to exist (or may be hidden).
 
FWIW Parallels roars

One of my main reasons for getting the MB vs. keeping my iBook was Parallels.

I develop for several platforms, so this was 'made in heaven' if i worked.

Well, after a month of testing and developing I can say that Parallels has been an unqualified success.

Currently I'm running Ubuntu, Solaris 10 (Dtrace, zones and ZFS rules, but that is another debate), and Win2k. Apart from an issue getting the screen resolution right in Sun's Java Desktop, I have had no problems whatsoever.

Since I'm not doing any 3D work, graphics acceleration isn't an issue for me.

It's the best 70-odd dollars I've ever spent.

Oh yeah, to the guy with stability issues..... I have no idea what you've been doing to your machine, but I haven't yet had a kernel panic of any kind (nor a BSOD in Parallels), so I don't recognize the situation at all. And, believe me, when you rape a system the way I do, running a long compile in the background while at the same time converting a video (just to see the stress handling capabilities - I wouldn't do that normally, compiles take too long :)), you get a good feel for the stability of the system. This baby is rock solid.

For the record: MB CD 2GB 120GBHD

/jhande
 
VS2005 performance ?

Hey guys,

I might be a bit off topic here, but im gonna risk it anyways...

I am a VS2005 c# developer (Compact Framework) and in the process of switching to Mac.

I am currently working exclusivly on a Dell PC, and toying with the idea of throwing away that ugly piece of plastic, and getting a shiny new mac book pro.

Now here is the thing : how do i keep the great performance i currently have on my Dell ? (bootcamp is out of the question since I do not want to keep booting my machine to check emails etc...)

Will VMWare cut it ? I head some discussion on the poor performace Parallels has when it comes to disk access (compiling is disk intensive).

Any thoughts ? did any one here try it ?
 
ananasgroup said:
I am a VS2005 c# developer (Compact Framework) and in the process of switching to Mac.

I am currently working exclusivly on a Dell PC, and toying with the idea of throwing away that ugly piece of plastic, and getting a shiny new mac book pro.

Now here is the thing : how do i keep the great performance i currently have on my Dell ? (bootcamp is out of the question since I do not want to keep booting my machine to check emails etc...)

Will VMWare cut it ? I head some discussion on the poor performace Parallels has when it comes to disk access (compiling is disk intensive).

Any thoughts ? did any one here try it ?
Click to expand...

I've been doing full time C# development on Intel Macs (iMac, MacBook and MacBook Pro) for about 6 months now. I use Parallels (only because vmware is not available yet) and have no performance problems. Visual studio is not graphically intensive, which is probably the only area where virtual environments suffer these days.

There are a few quirks that you'll have to work around, such as the F9-F12 keys being mapped in OS X, so if you use these keys for debugging then you'll probably want to remap them, but that's not a big deal, but generally the experience is very good. And of course you can tab between Windows and OS X so that you can have your email and other stuff where it works best and only development stuff in Windows.
 
Has anyone been getting updates at all from VMware? I sent in my request for Discussion Forums (a while back), but haven't gotten access.
 
No one has it seems. There's reports of a few people running the beta, but it seems isolated. I think it was a release in name only. Hopefully we'll see something around MW in Jan? Who knows.



YoNeX said:
Has anyone been getting updates at all from VMware? I sent in my request for Discussion Forums (a while back), but haven't gotten access.
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VMware Fusion Beta Download

I've been using Parallels for running VISTA and Win XP but today I found the link for the Vmware Beta Download that has only from what I understand been handed out to some for testing.

Here is the link that I downloaded the beta from:
http://fs01n5.sendspace.com/dl/6144991f8a6907390971fa15063bfbdf/45743bcd/h08tq5/VMware-Fusion-e.x.p-33141.dmg

I’m running it and works well. I know it’s in Beta but already after installing and running our Full copy of Vista and Win XP on Fusion, I’m going to stick with Vmware.

Now, right now it’s free, and not sure if it will cost money down the road for Vmware, but this one is free but only perk to Vmware is that the “Vmware” logo pop up as a water mark on the screen every now and then. Hasesnt really bothered me.

Anyways, good luck if you try it out.
Can’t wait for the full release free or not, will probably get it.

Carter
 
Wait wait wait

Look, it is not my intention to cast any aspersions on carterx, but it would be totally STUPID for anyone to download and install software that's sitting on a site other than the offical one (vmware.com in this case) just because someone posted it to a forum. Doubly so when the link is posted by someone who's joined the forum in the past few days!

People, you need to use some security sense. Nine times out of ten a link posted by a random user is probably safe; but it's that other time you need to worry about. Especially now that Macs have a higher profile.
 
Ok, well, yes, it's not on the VMware site. It's a copy from a user that recieved the Beta copy and then posted it on a file site for others to download.

If I seen that it had issues with the download I would not have posted the link, but that does not say that there could be some issues for some odd reason.

Anyways, I have been using it myself without an issue, but as "Westside guy" stated use your own caution doing so.

I can understand the concern. If you want to wait for an invite or full release, then do so.

I'm loving the program and will be buying it as soon as it is release (that is if there is a cost to it or not)
 
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